1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling method and a cooling apparatus for cooling a treatment substrate such as a glass substrate or a silicon substrate and a treatment apparatus therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the fabrication of a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal display (LCD), a circuit pattern is formed by what is called photolithography technology with the process described hereinafter. A photo-resist solution is coated on a semiconductor wafer that is a substrate or an LCD substrate to form a resist film which is subsequently exposed corresponding to the circuit pattern, and thereafter the circuit pattern is developed.
In the coating and developing process, when the resist film is formed, heat treatments including the pre-bake process for stabilizing the photo-resist, post-exposure bake process after exposure, post-bake process after development and the like are performed. Moreover, the cooling process for cooling the substrate of which the temperature is raised after the heat treatments is conducted.
When the substrate of which the temperature is raised after the heat treatments is cooled, heat exchange is conducted on a cooling plate that is a supporting body for supporting the substrate. More concretely, the substrate of which the temperature is raised is mounted on the cooling plate provided with pipelines for circulating cooling water. Heat exchange is conducted between the cooling water and the substrate, thereby lowering the temperature of the substrate.
However, since demand for shorter tact time in substrate treatments are increasing nowadays, the above-described cooling method can not satisfy the demands. In the above-described cooling method, when the tact time is shortened, the substrate after the aforesaid heat treatments is unable to be cooled to the predetermined temperature.